enjoyer of "mid" ships

Crowpaw brings his late father's greyhound Hoprunner with him, who Brambleshoot ends up forming a bond with. It's Brambleshoot who leaves the group early (after Midnight, pre-Feathertail's death) to ride Hoprunner back to the kingdoms, to warn of the incoming storm/flood

((in this au the kingdoms are flooded, which forms the lake within the existing forest territories))

Crow and Squirrel are both unknighted and therefore "unnamed", Crow being a young squire and Squirrel having failed her final test (a trial set by Starclan)

Despite Feathertail's best efforts, the others are initially cautious of the young princess's intentions and its Squirrel's brash honesty and humour that initially brings everyone together as friends.

Stormpath admires these traits as being so unlike the insincerity of the River Kingdom's court and he develops a strong, unreturned crush on her (she's aroace, but doesn't get a chance to realise this until late in life)

Brambleshoot wasn't chosen by Starclan, Squirrel was; his insecurity about this, plus his early departure, holds him back from fully connecting with the others

Tawnypelt fights the hardest against bonding on an emotional level, too aware of their eventual separation and determined to keep things professional. She becomes the unofficial leader, working well with Feathertail who handles the more "personable" aspects of a leadership role.

They form mutual romantic feelings before Feathertail dies as a result of a jointly made plan. This devastates Tawny and she’s the first to pull away from the others upon returning to the kingdoms.

Old!!

brambleclaw can't help his friend, and stormfur chooses to stay w/ the tribe - he tries to understand it, and he DOES get it, of course, but brambleclaw just feels so lonely again. great, a friend he made as a warrior, someone who got it, someone who brambleclaw liked spending time with, is gone, and then poof, hawkfrost and mothwing are here and are his half-siblings.

squirrelflight doesnt like hawkfrost, and brambleclaw will never say this out loud, of course, bc who tf do u think he is, but he trusts her judgement - squirrelflight is very perceptive and honest, but she also doesnt really get this part of it. she doesnt get what it's like to have such a complex family history like this; leafpool is in thunderclan, and both of her parents are alive and well-liked. and tawnypelt is trying to be the best shadowclan warrior she can be - which brambleclaw loves and admires about his sister, of course - but its at the sacrifice of their relationship; blackstar wouldn't like seeing her get so close to her thunderclan brother again, since her loyalties have always been questioned. but hawkfrost is interested in talking to brambleclaw - hawkfrost has SO many questions, mostly about tigerstar, but about the thunderclan side of his family, too. and even though hawkfrost's personality clashes with brambleclaws - hawkfrost is very self-assured and direct; there's so much of his personality that brambleclaw was taught was negative, since those were very much tigerstar traits - brambleclaw thinks about swiftpaw, weirdly enough. his older half-brother who brambleclaw looked up to so so much as a kit and apprentice; he thought swiftpaw was indestructible. swiftpaw looked out for him and tawnypelt, he loved them, and maybe brambleclaw can be hawkfrost's swiftpaw. right?

and oh man, the df plot. the df plot. personally, i just cant see arc1 brambleclaw doing it. and i cant see my Idealized version of him doing it, either; i think how i would do it, is that hawkfrost is training in the dark forest with tigerstar - but only hawkfrost, until eventually, hawkfrost comes up to brambleclaw and is like. hey. so. you know our father isnt really gone, gone, right? like you can still talk to him and ask him all the questions you've always wanted to know. he's there, and he wants to train us - like he should have done when we were kits. hawkfrost is DYING to know their father, even though brambleclaw gave him the gist and told him that tigerstar being a present father isnt really something brambleclaw had experience with - maybe tawnypelt did, but tawnypelt just shrugs her shoulders and prefers not to elaborate, as is her way sometimes. i think brambleclaw only goes to like, a few training sessions every few nights because he wants to protect hawkfrost. maybe brambleclaw is a little curious about tigerstar, but his father is- well, hes not really the imposing and regal leader that apprentice bramblepaw thought he was. he seems off - angry and vengeful, very empty. and brambleclaw thinks its very sad that hawkfrost - and maybe brambleclaw a little, too - are so desperate for a familial connection that they pretend to overlook it.

this is so long so im gonna keep it quick, but i can see stormfur coming back to riverclan around this time, and brambleclaw is SO happy to see his friend - even more so when stormfur joins thunderclan. his friend is back, and squirrelflight's back to being his friend, too; it's not as weird between them now, even though ashfur is still lurking in the background. brambleclaw doesnt really know why he hates him so much, but- whatever, not his problem, because stormfur is here.

stormfur's here, and he fits into thunderclan well. he and brambleclaw talk all the time; brambleclaw shows him around and talks to him about everything thats been going on. everything that he's been going through, and the more they talk, the more brambleclaw thinks that this isnt just...friendship, not really. squirrelflight straight up just asks him "you have a thing for him, don't you?"

and he does. brambleclaw's never really had a thing for anyone before, not a molly or a tom, but he thinks this is what it feels like - goldenflower pretty much tells him that it must be.

tigerstar doesnt like that, though. oh, tigerstar is not happy at all. he'd rather have brambleclaw be with someone of firestars lineage than stormfur, of all cats - stormfur is half-riverclan. he's graystripe's son. he went from going to the tribe, to riverclan, and crawling to thunderclan - he has no loyalty. stormfur goes against everything that tigerstar stands for.

i love the idea of a dramatic showdown sometime in sunset w/ them - "you can have any tom or molly; you're my oldest kit, my spitting image, any thunderclan cat would be honored to have your kits. but you're choosing a tomcat with a riverclan mother and a thunderclan father, a thunderclan father who couldnt even train an apprentice properly, who let himself get taken by twolegs. stormfur will never give you children, will never choose you - he cant even choose his own clan! your sister is choosing a loyal, shadowclan tom - hawkfrost knows he has to choose a riverclan cat! why are you such a disappointment?"

and brambleclaw realizes that he's been an idiot. he's his father's firstborn, yes, but he's nothing like tigerstar - and this disappoints tigerstar the most. hes his fathers biggest disappointment: tawnypelt is a loyal shadowclan cat, who will choose a shadowclan mate and is both talented and level-headed. mothwing, even though tigerstar's never met her, at least has kept her head down and done her duty as a medicine cat. and hawkfrost is practically tripping over his paws to do whatever tigerstar asks of him - he values his father that much, despite only knowing him as this shadow.

brambleclaw, though. brambleclaw's always been his softest kit. he was supposed to be his greatest achievement - his prodigy - and brambleclaw doesnt want power. he let firestar choose another cat as deputy over him; he values friendship and love over power. hes best friends with firestars daughter, and views firestar as his psuedo parent - brambleclaw wont hear a negative word about firestar.

but worst of all, brambleclaw cant even choose a mate right. he's fallen in love w/ a half-clan cat who flipflops between loyalties and, worst of all, has no ambition. they'll have no children, no one to carry on tigerstar's legacy. all the moons tigerstar has spent trying to reach his son, and its a goddamn fucking waste. his son is soft. he looks like tigerstar, but he's just like firestar.

brambleclaw realizes that all of this was for nothing; he wants hawkfrost to get out of here. he wants to take his little brother and just fucking leave - his father is dead, and brambleclaw knows that he spent the past few moons chasing the idea of a place in thunderclan, of trying to find his purpose, and all along, he was falling once again into tigerstar's grand fucking scheme. worst of all, he almost betrayed firestar: firestar has believed in him, cared for him. firestar wanted him to be deputy, until brambleclaw told him no and told him to give it to someone else, someone more experienced and who wanted power. brambleclaw doesn't know if he'll become leader one day, but it'll be on his own terms - and if he wants it which, fuck, he barely likes organizing patrols half of the time.

he just wants stormfur. he wants to go back to thunderclan, to his friends.

and then boom, hawkfrost confrontation. hawkfrost is so, so fucking angry that brambleclaw walked away from everything. he's angry that even though HE was the one who was spending all this time w/ tigerstar, the only one that tigerstar valued was brambleclaw - soft, weak-hearted brambleclaw, who never chases after what he really wants. who thinks he knows best.

hawkfrost doesnt think that brambleclaw will kill firestar; brambleclaw nearly faints at the sight of his mentor at hawkfrosts claws. no, he knows he wont - but its two birds, one stone. kill firestar, and then brambleclaw - maybe pin it on brambleclaw, since hawkfrost thinks thunderclan would probably believe it, and gain tigerstars true respect. all hawkfrost wants is his fathers love and respect - he has nothing else.

brambleclaw still kills hawkfrost, and brambleclaw doesnt know what to do. his friends find him, standing over his brothers body, and brambleclaw realizes that in some way, he fell into his fathers plan - he killed someone, murdered his brother. he couldnt save hawkfrost. somehow, tigerstar has still won. he's still won, and brambleclaw has to go on and pretend like everything is okay. he has to go on and pretend like he wants this - to be a warrior, when all its done in the past few moons is bring him confusion and pain.

and i think, a few weeks later, when hes curled up alone in the warriors den, stormfur finds him. stormfur likes thunderclan, sure, but he really only came here for one reason: brambleclaw. and stormfur wants to take care of someone; its in his nature. and more than that, fuck it, he loves him. hes known it for the longest - squirrelflight and shrewpelt have been the most annoying little fuckin' matchmakers on that.

but stormfur finds him, and sits down next to his nest. and quite simply goes: "we can leave if you want, you know."

"leave?"

"sure."

"and go...where? to riverclan? shadowclan?"

"we can leave the lake."

"to the tribe?"

"no. im thinking it can just be the two of us. we saw the sundrownplace; have you ever wondered what else is out there?"